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Murder Jury Forming For Man Caught After Perching On Crane

Associated Press file photo (2005)

Carl Roland is accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Gonzalez, in Oldsmar.

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2009

CLEARWATER - Jury selection began this morning in the first-degree murder trial of Carl Roland, a sometime computer salesman who gained notoriety for perching himself atop a crane in Atlanta while fleeing Pinellas authorities.

Roland, 45, is accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend, Jennifer Gonzalez, a 36-year-old mother of two. Her body was found May 24, 2005, in a retention pond behind her apartment building in Oldsmar.

After the slaying, authorities say, Roland fled to Atlanta as investigators pieced together what happened and issued a warrant calling for his arrest. The standoff on the crane between Roland and Atlanta police negotiators took place 350 feet in the air above busy Peachtree Street, and it lasted 56 hours, drawing national attention.

Authorities didn't know it was Roland in the standoff until his wallet fell from the crane.

During his first-degree murder court proceedings, Roland's mental state was called into question, but last year Circuit Judge Timothy Peters found him competent to stand trial.

Before Gonzalez was found floating in the pond, Roland had gone to her apartment, asked to speak to her, and the two left together, Gonzalez's then 14-year-old daughter told authorities.

A maintenance worker saw him running off after the meeting, and investigators found two size-12 black and white Adidas sandals in the vicinity of the pond afterward, court records say. Roland wears a size 12, and in a photograph in Gonzalez's apartment there was a photograph of Roland wearing a pair of Adidas sandals.

The daughter has told authorities her mother had been trying to break up with Roland, court records say. Roland thought she was cheating on him, court records say.

The trial is expected to last three days.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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